welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories. china's red carpet treatment: president trump sees the sights — but will he get the support he needs over north korea? the british government loses its second cabinet minister in a week — priti patel quits over her unofficial meetings in israel. the mother of a teenager accuses kevin spacey of sexually assaulting her son last year. a public health emergency — the thick grey smog choking the indian capital forces the closure of all delhi's schools. and the louvre comes to the middle east — the french president opens a new museum in abu dhabi. hello.

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president trump, who's on his first state visit to china, has watched a military honour guard in the heart of beijing after he was greeted by the chinese leader, xijinping. the two are now holding talks at the great hall of the people. our correspondent, aleem maqbool is in beijing too, travelling with president trump. the president will be very keen to come away from beijing with some progress, surely, on north korea and trade. what chance of either of those? well, he will claim lots of progress on both regards, i am sure, but if it is about coming array with something intangible and then he may well struggle. it has been interesting but four months through the election campaign and his administration he spoke about how tough it would be with china. we heard his first remarks in our. he

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was sitting opposite the president of china at the beginning of the bilateral talks and his opening comments were rather fawning. bilateral talks and his opening comments were ratherfawning. he bilateral talks and his opening comments were rather fawning. he was heaping praise on the chinese president saying that they had a very warm relationship and he was praising the welcome he had had here. in beijing. it was fairly spectacular. if he criticised anything it was previous american administrations for allowing china to get the upper hand on trade. when it came to the relationship with resident she he said that all —— president xi he said that he thought the relationship was quite warm. and he said he wants the entire world to stop trading with north korea. china is the largest trading partner of north korea. it has no real reason to move america's why on this, does it? and that is the point here. he can talk tough on the trade

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imbalance and he can talk tough about chinese facilitating north korea but what kind of leveraged does he have to change that situation? that is what is being asked of him now in this visit. yesterday he not only spoke about trade he said some very direct things to beijing. he outlined the human rights abuses that were going on in north korea and quite directly, how can china support a regime like that? now he has to try and change the equation but what leveraged does he have? he can talk progress but he will need to come away from this with more than a business deal, which is what has been announced so far. into dollars of business deal. but that does not change the trade equation and i think he will find it hard indeed to get china to come along with the kind of things he is calling for in north korea, the ceasing of trade

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and relations with north korea. you make an intriguing report that both men see themselves as the most powerful leader is in the world. china has been making a visual point. they let donald trump and his wife have a meal in the forbidden city, an unprecedented honour. and gave them an actual red carpet which they denied president obama. because they denied president obama. because they probably wondered how they could push donald trump's buttons, and make him go their way. it appears to be working. it is not just the chinese leadership that seems to have gotten that message, it is others in the region. they have really la id it is others in the region. they have really laid out the red carpet. it is almost something of a beauty contest of how much they can keep this kind of stuff on donald trump. ina sort this kind of stuff on donald trump. in a sort of working. if it means a donald trump is not so tough, is not so hard nor belligerent in

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negotiations then maybe it is worth it. as i say, from donald trump's open comments where he is talking so much about how welcome he had been made in all these countries, particularly here in beijing, they may have got this right. thank you very much indeed. we will take you like to a joint address from the two most powerful men in the world in less tha n most powerful men in the world in less than half an hour. just to remind you, you can keep up—to—date on president trump osmond journey through asia on the bbc website. there's lots of analysis and guides. that's at bbc.com/news. it's been another eventful day in british politics. the international development secretary, priti patel, has resigned following the disclosure of further unauthorised contact with israeli politicians. vicky young has more on the british government's second top—level resignation in a week. there is flash photography coming up. in the letter from priti patel it is clear that she acknowledges what she has done wrong,

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saying her actions were meant with the best of intentions but they've fell below the standards of transparency and openness that she advocated. she offers a fulsome apology to the prime minister and to the government and offers her resignation. i guess, having had so long to think about it on the aeroplane, maybe she decided that was what she was going to do. what is interesting is the response from theresa may in which she talks about the uk and israel being close allies, but pointing out that work has to be done formally. there are ways of doing this. that is why you have a system in place and that is why you have the civil service and that's why meetings like this are documented so they are transparent. and everybody knows who is lobbying cabinet ministers, who they are giving access to. interestingly she says that i accept your apology and i welcome your clarification about your trip to israel over the summer. now that further details have come to light it is right that you have decided to resign.

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clear from theresa may that if she had not resigned she would have been sacked. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the un security council has told the saudi—led military coalition in yemen that it must allow humanitarian aid deliveries to resume, to ease a crisis. the coalition closed all land, air and sea ports on monday, after a missile attack on riyadh by houthi rebels. democrats in america have scored some big victories, in the first state wide elections since president trump won the presidency a year ago. in virginia, ralph northam defeated his republican rival in a governorship race. and phil murphy was victorious in new jersey. the results will boost democratic hopes of winning back the house of representatives next year. the trial of two women accused of murdering the half—brother of kimjong—un has heard that the car used to drive them to the scene of the killing, was bought by one of north korea's embassy officials. the north korean leader's half—brother kim jong—nam died after being smeared with a nerve agent at kuala lumpur

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airport in february. the women have pleaded not guilty. the mother of a teenager has publicly accused the hollywood actor and theatre director kevin spacey of sexually assaulting her son last year. the us news presenter heather unruh told a press conference that mr spacey had plied her son with alcohol and assaulted him ina bar. it's another allegation added to a growing list against mr spacey. and the actors union equity in the uk has told the bbc that the problems of sexual harassment are endemic in the industry at all levels. our special correspondent lucy manning reports. injuly 2016, actor kevin spacey sexually assaulted my son. the tears of a mother in boston today, revealing what she claimed happened to her son. the victim, my son, was a starstruck straight 18—year—old young man, who had no idea that the famous actor was an alleged sexual predator or that he was about to

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become his next victim. journalist heather unruh‘s tweet about kevin spacey last month triggered all the allegations against him. today, she went public and the police are now investigating. to kevin spacey, i want to say this — shame on you for what you did to my son. the bbc has interviewed more alleged victims. kris nixon didn't have to speak out but wanted to make clear kevin spacey‘s behaviour was part of a pattern. it's not just sleazy, it's predatorial, it's... he did what he did because he knew he'd get away with it. the one—time barman met kevin spacey in london in 2007, when he alleges the actor groped him. kevin spacey sat down on the sofa next to me, asked if that was my girlfriend, then reached over, grabbed... he then describes a sexually explicit action and words. a couple of weeks after the party

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at his place, he was in the bar, reached forward, grabbed my waistband and said something to the effect of, "i can make it up to you," or, "let me make it up to you." so i went back upstairs, i was standing behind the bar thinking, "what the hell just happened again?" i was in work so i couldn't make a scene about it. and told him in no uncertain terms where he could go. the bbc also spoke to an american film—maker who didn't want to be fully identified. in the 1990s, he was a junior crew member on a film kevin spacey directed. he claims the actor sexually harassed him, something he mentioned to another man working on the film. he said, "you too, huh?" and i was like, "what do you mean, ‘you too'? what do you mean?" and he goes, "he was touching you and flirting with you?" i said, "yeah, it was awful!" and he said, "yeah, he did that to me." in the first week we were all out at a bar, and he grabbed my butt, and i turned round, and i said to him, "kevin,

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if you ever do that again, i will kick your ass, so leave me alone." in the uk, the actors' union says sexual harassment in the industry is endemic. i think it was every place you could imagine in our industry. every woman i have spoken to, female actor i've spoken to, can tell you a story, absolutely. and many, many of the men, both straight and gay, can also tell you stories. can those at the old vic theatre, where kevin spacey worked for ii years, really have been in the dark? the theatre initially said it had no complaints against him, but it has now appointed external advisers to investigate. kevin spacey has not responded to any of the latest allegations. previously, he said he needed to examine his own behaviour. lucy manning, bbc news. across the spanish region of catalonia, thousands of protesters have blocked roads and train lines in protest at the imprisonment of the region's separatist leaders. and spain's foreign minister has suggested catalonia could have a legal

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referendum on independence after last month's disputed one — but only if the necessary constitutional changes are approved by the rest of spain. our europe correspondent gavin lee reports. the streets of catalonia tonight. after a day where separatist supporters have controlled the rhythm of the traffic, blocking every major route across the region. and the railways, too. in madrid, i met spain's foreign minister, who recently claimed it was fake news to suggest there was police violence against voters during last month's banned independence referendum. now he seems to have softened his position. i'm sorry if some of them got injured, but this was not... i don't think it was a disproportionate use of force. i am not denying that there were some ugly images that we would not like to see repeated, but by all means, and with all due respect, this was no bloody sunday. you think it might be a better

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system to actually have a referendum to change the constitution for the spanish people? we have created a committee in the parliament to explore the possibility of amending the constitution. i think we are ready. we acknowledge that there is a political situation that deserves to be looked at. but, in any case, it is clear a decision will have be taken by all spaniards. this proposal from the spanish government appears to offer an olive branch to separatist supporters, but it means that 47 million people across spain will decide whether to legally make it possible or not to have the right to self—determination, and, if so, once again it will be down to the entire spanish population to decide if they want to see independence. i think catalonia have to decide the referendum, not spain. spain does not have anything to say. a new constitution may be a good thing for catalonia. maybe. it was only days ago separatist

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ministers were declaring independence here in the catalan parliament. their seats are empty now. some are in prison, or on the run. there are more in court tomorrow. gavin lee, bbc news, barcelona. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: it's the stuff of science fiction — a boy's life saved by scientists who grew him new skin. berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced throughout the liberated territory. with nobody to stop them, it was not long before the first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. it is keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display but on the local campaign headquarters and the heavy routine work of their women volunteers.

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yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause for so long, has died. the palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning for the leader who symbolised the hopes of his people for independent statehood. in the wake of the colombian volcano disaster, rescue teams are trying to reach thousands of survivors who clambered onto rooftops and trees above the sea of mud. after 17 years of discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst ofjoy. women ministers who had long felt only grudgingly accepted in the ranks of clergy suddenly felt welcomed. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: day two of his trip to china and president trump has been welcomed into beijing's great hall of the people, ahead of talks with president xi. another senior member of the british government has resigned — the second in a week. for a second day the indian capital, delhi, is enveloped in thick, grey smog.

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it has forced all schools in delhi to shut. pollution in some areas is 70 times the world health organization's safe level. air quality is worsening because of coal—fired power plants and farmers burning stubble. sarah corker reports. just imagine trying to drive to work through this. for days now, toxic smog has choked the indian capital, delhi. in some areas, air pollution has topped a maximum reading of 999. that is the equivalent of smoking 50 cigarettes a day. it has been declared a public health emergency. pollution is a problem for everyone, you know? everyone breathing — maybe have sometimes problems for the cough also, you know? all schools have shut, affecting 5 million students. and the demand for facemasks and air purifiers is so high, some shops have sold out.

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delhi is one of the most polluted cities on the planet, and conditions worsen every winter when farmers in nearby states burn leftover crops. a report by the lancet medical journal found that pollution had claimed as many as 2.5 million lives in india in 2015. pollution affects everybody — like, urban air pollution hits everybody. but the poor are less able to protect themselves, and walk, bike or ride the bus to work. polluting industries are never in wealthy neighbourhoods. they're almost always located in poor localities. in neighbouring pakistan, trains and flights were disrupted in lahore, and the number of patients in hospital with breathing problems has quadrupled. the authorities warn the situation is unlikely to improve in the next few days. the white house has announced new measures that will make it harder for americans to visit cuba and do business there. it wants to stop the cuban military, intelligence and security services benefiting from us

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tourists and trade. from havana, our cuba correspondent will grant. what a difference a year makes. in november 2016, the bilateral relationship between cuba and the united states was at its best point in decades. and now, with this latest announcement from the trump administration, things are almost back on a cold war footing. a list has been published by the departments of state and treasury which essentially lays out 180 different state—owned and military—owned entities in cuba with which americans can no longer do business. they include 83 hotels on the island where american citizens may not stay, according to the us government. they range from big, five—star resorts to small, state—owned boutique hotels like this one in old havana.

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as well as that, a key part of the obama administration's policy, something called people—to—people exchanges, have been made much more complicated. now, americans must come here with organised tours that have jurisdiction in the us. no longer can they come here simply of their own accord, in quite the numbers and in the ways they used to. essentially, though, this is about a new relationship of hostility rather than engagement, and when we add it to what has been happening with the supposed health attacks on us diplomats in cuba, things are already on a much more frosty footing than they were a few months ago. now a medicalfirst — a boy suffering from a rare genetic condition which leaves skin as fragile as butterfly wings has been given new genetically modified skin. he had a series of life—saving operations in germany. using experimental therapy, skin was taken from the boy, its dna repaired in a laboratory, and the new skin then grafted back on, over more than three

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quarters of his body. james gallagher has the story. when hassan was just a week old, his skin began to tear and blister. he hasjunctional epidermolysis bullosa. the separate layers of his skin should be held together like velcro. but hassan‘s dna is missing vital instructions, that leave his skin as fragile as a butterfly‘s wing. there is no cure, and around four in ten patients do not reach adolescence. hassan‘s dad said it was an upsetting time for the family. translation: he was in severe pain. he was asking me a lot of questions. i couldn't answer them. for example, "why do i have this disease?" "why do i have this life?" injune 2015, hassan was critically ill at the children's hospital in bochum, germany, and doctors did not think he would survive. more than half his body looked like a red—raw open wound.

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in an experimental therapy, a patch of hassan‘s skin was taken to a lab in italy. there, it was infected with a virus. viruses are good at getting inside cells, and this one was used like a postman to deliver the missing instructions for binding layers of skin together. large sheets of skin were then grown and grafted back onto hassan‘s body. this breakthrough is exciting doctors. i got goosebumps when i heard this. it was just incredible, really — very, very exciting. and is this going to make a difference for patients today? this treatment is not available, and it's not going to be available in the next few months. but this is a massive advance in research. four—year—old tia is just one of 500,000 people living with epidermolysis bullosa worldwide. it's gave us a lot of hope.

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if it's going to make her better, and make her have a normal life, we would definitely go for it. every birthday that she has, i dread it sometimes, because i always sit and think, is she going to die this year? is she going to live? and i don't want to think that anymore. but this is not a proven therapy. it is experimental. clinical trials are underway, to see if it can be used more widely. james gallagher, bbc news. one of the best—known names in the art world now has a second home in the middle east. the louvre abu dhabi has been formally opened. the name is on loan for 30 years. the new museum will show hundreds of works from every culture and era, half of them from france's most prestigious museum collections. our arts editor will gompertz has been to see it. the hit—and—miss architecture of abu dhabi's recently built high—rise skyline, which sits alongside the impressive sheikh zayed grand mosque, perhaps the emirates' most famous landmark. well, it was.

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but now there is this — the brand—new louvre abu dhabi, with its 180—metre, 7.5—tonne domed roof, designed along with the 55 individual buildings it spans by the prize—winning french architect jean nouvel. i wanted also, when you look at the building, that you understand it is a spiritual building. the symbol of spirituality here is the cupola. for me, it's cosmographic. it's a kind of sky under the sky. and when you have the light through, because i perforated this dome, i saw that we could play with the movement of the sun. and the ray of light has to go through eight layers and, of course, at one moment, with the movement of the sun, one spot disappears. but, in the same time, two others appear. the project is a collaboration between abu dhabi and the louvre in paris, which is being paid around 1 billion euros

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for lending its name, expertise and collection to the new museum. masterpieces such as leonardo da vinci's la belle ferronniere sit alongside works lent by other french institutions. monet, from the musee d'orsay. giacometti from the pompidou. and this sculpture, horses of the sun, from versailles. did you need to do the deal with the louvre? couldn't you have just borrowed works from museums around the world? we have a saying in arabic, which is start with other civilisations, and — instead of starting all the way from scratch, instead of going through all the learning curves of thousands of years of their experience. so for us the partnership is about getting their experience, learning from them, but also working together to create something that is new for abu dhabi, but also new for france and new for the world. the emirates says its louvre will be joined by a national museum and a guggenheim abu dhabi in due course, creating,

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it hopes, a new global cultural hub. will gompertz, bbc news, abu dhabi. just finally, it is not every day a citizen turns up forjury duty in a heavy—duty motorcade. but, well, barack obama arrived at a chicago courthouse on wednesday, answering a summons. the former presidentjoined other prospective jurors waiting to see if they would be chosen to serve in a trial. he shook a few hands and signed some autographs and books. but he was not required, and was dismissed, although he is well qualified. a brief reminder of our top story. on day two of his visit to china, president trump is having talks with president xijinping on north korea and on trade. we will bring you their live press conference as it

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happens. thank you for watching. hello, again. there's some colder weather on the way for this weekend. but overnight, it's not going to be quite as cold, because this area of cloud is moving down from the north—west, bringing with it a bit of rain and drizzle. as the cloud clears away from northern scotland, it will turn chilly later. perhaps the lowest temperatures for a while, ahead of that cloud, more towards the south—east. but here, those numbers will be a bit higher by the morning, as we start the day with cloudy skies and some light rain or drizzle, and temperatures six or seven. for much of southern england, wales, the midlands, perhaps up into yorkshire and lincolnshire, it'll be a bit of a dull start on thursday. a lot of low cloud. a little rain or drizzle here and there, no great amounts at all. already beginning to brighten up, though, in the far north of england, and some sunshine to greet the day in northern ireland, and particularly scotland, where there will be a chill in the air here. and we've got some sharp showers to run into northern scotland. they'll continue pretty much all day, and it will be quite

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windy here, too. much further south, some slow improvements through the day, as we see the brighter skies and sunshine filtering southwards, pushing away the dull and damp weather eventually into the english channel. it will take a while to get the sunshine out significantly across southern england in the afternoon, and further north, in the sunshine, temperatures about 10—12 degrees. those showers continue, though, for northern scotland. still quite windy here, as well. clear skies in the evening will see the temperatures dipping. but then we get another spell of rain and cloud, and some stronger winds this time, pushing that wetter weather down quickly across the uk on thursday night into friday morning. the skies clear to the north, again the temperatures will dip away, and it's cold enough in northern scotland for the showers to be wintry in the hills. quickly, we'll see some sunshine developing further south, one or two showers, perhaps, but then later in the day we'll see the cloud increasing again. and we've got some rain on the way. that's going to be particularly evident in northern ireland. ahead of that, quite a cold day for scotland, seven or eight degrees. that rain that's coming in is coming from what's left of tropical storm rina, and that will move its way quickly to bring some rain mainly

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for england and wales. some stronger winds through the english channel, but it doesn't last long. and, by the time we get into the weekend, the wind direction is changing. we're going to draw down more of a northerly wind as the weekend goes on, and it will be turning colder, day and night. so this is saturday — some spells of sunshine. some showers, though, for northern ireland, running through the irish sea, into wales, some wintry showers for northern scotland, some showers down the north sea coasts, and it will be feeling cold in the wind. strongest winds again around coastal areas, both in the west, the north and the east, and that's where we'll see the showers. for many inland, yes, it's going to be a cold day, but it should be dry and quite sunny. this is bbc news. the headlines: china's president has welcomed president trump to the great hall of the people in beijing for talks. the us is hoping china might put more pressure on its ally and neighbour north korea to abandon its nuclear programme. the world's most powerful leaders will also oversee a signing ceremony

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for billions of dollars of trade deals. britain's international development secretary, priti patel, has resigned, the second cabinet minister to do so in the past week. she'd held unauthorised meetings with israeli leaders while on holiday in israel. ms patel said that her actions were meant with the best of intentions. the actor and director kevin spacey is facing fresh allegations of sexual misconduct. the us journalist heather unruh has told reporters that her son was sexually assaulted by mr spacey last year. now it's time for hardtalk.